Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 149: Happy Holliday

Its not hard to make links between The Country Girl and the next film on the list - Born Yesterday. Both are based on plays and so mainly feature people talking in rooms, both star William Holden and both have the winner of that year's Best Actress award in them and in this instance it was Judy Holliday. More surprising is the fact that Holliday beat both All About Eve's Anne Baxter and Bette Davies as well as Sunset Boulevard's Gloria Swanson. Holliday's character is Billie Dawn a former chorus girl who is the girlfriend of dodgy uncouth tycoon Harry Brock and is forced to go to a Washington hotel so Harry can do a deal with a few politicians. While meeting with the upper-classes Harry realises that Billie won't be able to mix with the people that he'll be doing business with so he organises her to have some lessons with Holden's journalist Paul Verrell. Obviously as this is a screwball comedy Paul and Billie soon become romantically entwined as she learns more about the country she lives in and is able to understand more than Harry wants her to. As soon as Billie becomes more aware of some of the documents that Harry is having her sign she refuses to do his dirty work so he hits her. Eventually she gets her revenge as she and Paul leak documents of his underground shenanigans to the press before they leave together.

There was much debate on the YouTube comments if Holliday should've won the Best Actress Award at the 1951 ceremony. I have to say it's certainly a memorable performance as she makes Billie the stereotypical gangster's moll with a high-pitched voice and a funny walk. But she is captivating as the character grows and learns to stand up for herself and her final scenes where she gets one over on Harry is a fist punch in the air moment. Holliday is ably supported by William Holden as the straight man and by Broderick Crawford, himself just coming off a Best Actor Oscar win, as the brutish Harry. The main problem with the film is that again it is a play adaptation and therefore there are many scenes in Harry's hotel suite in which he welcomes his guests and has meetings with his dodgy lawyer. Obviously the medium of film allows for exterior scenes so we see Paul and Billie exploring Washington landmarks but this almost seems a little forced like the director needed to differentiate the film and the play however it all still fits together. I did enjoy Born Yesterday and found Holliday's performance extremely funny and likeable and I laughed a lot. While Davis, Baxter and Swanson all gave memorable dramatic turns and at points chewed the scenery I have to say that we all like a laugh once in a while and it's good to see a comic actress pick up the prize something that hardly ever happens these days.

Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 146: Political Corruption Gone Mad

I know I've said this already but it does bear repeating that I haven't really dealt with many winners of the 1950s but the primary reason for this is that most of them lie on LoveFilm and are yet to be delivered. The third and final one of the winners that I can watch was declared Best Picture at the first ceremony of the decade that film being All The King's Men. The film also had an Oscar winning performance from Broderick Crawford as Willie Stark a man who goes from becoming a rural politician to state governor. The film is told from the point-of-view of Jack Burden, Oscar-nominated John Ireland, who is first sent to cover Stark's story in his role as a journalist. After Stark's campaign gains momentum he hires the strong willed Sadie to be his aide her straight-talk helps him get on the first rung of the ladder. But after fighting corruption at the start of the film Stark becomes corrupt himself as he has the local police in his pocket and tries to buy off a judge and blackmail a doctor by building a brand new hospital. The relationship between Stark and Burden sours after the former begins a romantic liaison with the latter's girlfriend. But everything unravels when Stark's son kills a girl in a drunk-driving accident and ends paralysed along the way, Willie is impeached and then assassinated when he is found not guilty. The final scene involves him telling Jack to carry on his work before he finally succumbs to his gunshot.

First off I do feel that All The King's Men is a film that deserves a Best Picture Oscar, it has a good subject matter and a great cast however at the same time it does have some issues. The first being pace, the film starts slow enough following Willie's life as a small-town campaigner and his first meeting with Jack. But once he starts to become a big fish the film speeds up and Willie goes from berating the corrupt from being corrupt himself in a short period of time. I also feel like some of the supporting characters were a bit weak especially Jack and Willie's romantic partner Anne played by Joanne Dru. However Mercedes McCambridge's Sadie is everything Anne is not strong-willed but fragile, straight-talking but vulnerable and she makes a great partner for Crawford in their scenes together. And Crawford himself is skilfully cast in the lead, rather than a good looking film star as the politician, Crawford looks like an everyman so it is a surprise when he gets corrupted. Also due for praise are the film's set direction and costume, the sets are beautifully drawn - the political rallies, the country mansions and the newsrooms all feel authentic while the change of costumes throughout the film reflect Willie's political standing. Director Robert Rossen obviously understood the nature of film-making and the use of space and that's one of All The King's Men's great points which do outnumber the weaker elements of the picture. Indeed it did deserve best picture but as I am yet to watch any of the nominees whether it deserved best picture that year is yet to be decided.